The Fisher Building turned 80 years old yesterday. If you haven't had a chance to visit this Detroit jewel, you need to drop everything and head down there.
We've covered this building before a couple times:
Unbuilt DetroitYes, It Really is Art DecoThe last article includes links to the National Historic Register and a nice piece by the Detroit News.
We recently published an article talking about some of Detroit's greatest
unbuilt projects some of which were caused by the onset of the Great Depression.
Unless you're living under a rock, you've no doubt seen the stock markets contract at an alarming rate these past couple of weeks. This has already caused many corporations to scale back on capital spending and many more large projects are either in jeopardy or have already been cancelled.
Thankfully, a couple are close or have recently finished construction (Greektown Casino and the
Westin Book Cadillac). The economy will surely impact the momentum that Detroit had steadily built over the last decade and some projects we were excited to see may never get built.
Here's a few higher profile projects that we're keeping an eye on:
Some projects that are already cancelled or on indefinite hold:
I know there are a lot more, we just haven't had a chance to pull them together. Hit comments and let us know what we missed.
Architect have finally entered the Reality Television genre. Sundance Channel is airing a six-part documentary series that follows a group of fifth and sixth year architecture students.
I haven't had a chance to watch this yet so I don't know how to describe this series. I'm sure it will revive memories of late nights / all-nighters spent in design studio or remind of things I was doing instead of working in design studio.
The show originally aired from mid-August thru late September, but you might be able to catch some reruns on Sundance. Episodes are also available from iTunes or Hulu.
Architecture School [ via Sundance ] Be sure to check out the
mini site.
Hit the comments and let me know what you think.
The AIA Michigan website has finally updated their website to include information on the latest AIA Michigan
award winners.
It actually has some really nice images of all the projects. The commentary (at least for buildings) are limited to the jury reaction and some basic project information.
So all you people looking for information (Yes, I do keep on eye on the search logs) on the James Clarkson Environmental Discovery Center at the Indian Springs Metropark can learn more at the
AIA Michigan website.
Earlier this year, the DEGC and a New York developer, The Northern Group, announced plan for the Cadillac Centre located in the vacant block adjacent to Campus Martius.
The Northern Group has missed a July 7th deadline to submit site plans, title review, and an environmental review. An automatic extension to submit these item expires this coming Monday. It appears they have also asked to offer a modified plan for the site, which I would interpret that they want to downsize the project.
Update: The revised plan consisted of a $40 million parking deck instead of the $150 million mixed use building. The DEGC has refused their request to modify the plan and it appears that this deal may indeed be dead. George Jackson, president of the Detroit Economic Growth Corporation, just became my favorite person in Detroit. No one wants to see a parking deck in such a prominent location.
I wasn't a big fan of this building but it would have injected a great deal of excitement into the Campus Martius area and attracted a great deal of attention to Detroit and it's architecture.
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This project was scheduled to start construction in the Fall 2009 and did manage to attract some
national attention.
I know we don't post often enough here and we're working hard to bring you new information, but let's be honest. It just doesn't come that often. We appreciate you stopping by and still want you to, but you can also stay up-to-date with our RSS feeds.
There's a link at the top of the page that will get you instant access to all the articles that we publish here at Critical Detroit.
If you're looking for specific news, our Archives page (link at the bottom of every page) contains a list of all our categories. You can also select feeds for specific categories only if you want to filter your information.
I recently ran across an old Detroit Free Press (October 27, 1991) article about unbuilt architecture projects in downtown Detroit. Written by John Gallagher (still writing about architecture) and illustrated by Dick Rochon (later known as Richard), who has produced many architectural renderings over the years. If you can find one, take a look at a hand drawn rendering of Detroit architecture the next time you see one. Chances are it's one if Rochon's.
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I'll spare you any obvious baseball analogies, but things are not looking good for Tiger Stadium.
The Preservation Group has until Tuesday (October 7th) to pay $219,000 or the Detroit City Council could vote to proceed with demolition of the entire stadium. At the moment, the stadium is still intact from dugout to dugout.
The Conservancy expects to have the money available, but it seems dependent on finalizing the agreement between the city and the Conservancy. The agreement includes a funding deadline of March 2010 for the Conservancy to raise $15 million to renovate the remaining portion of the stadium into a museum.
To make matters worse, Ernie Harwell quietly
resigned from his position several weeks ago and the Ernie Harwell Foundation was forced to return $500,000 in donations that it had received in support of specific provisions that were eliminated by the DEGC. Harwell will have to look elsewhere for a facility to house his sports memorabilia collection
In honor of this weeks announcement that the
@Water Lofts have lost their EDC funding and approval (presumably, this project is dead), we've created a new category for our
Online Guide called "Unbuilt Detroit."
I'll admit that the guide is still undergoing massive development so it's easier to navigate, but the new category is there and the @Water Lofts is it's first entry.
Two new books were recently released that cover Detroit art and architecture.
Great Architecture of Michigan contains 150 photographs by
Balthazar Korab for what the MAF feels are architecturally significant buildings from around the state. John Gallagher, Architecture Critic from the Detroit Free Press, wrote the accompanying text. Korab's photographs are wonderful as usual. AIA Michigan has put together a
nice site where you can browse the photos.
Art in Detroit Public Places details the locations and story behind 150 of Detroit's vast collection of public art.
Both books are available at Wayne State Press (Even though I'm not an affiliate, I've provided easy links for you!)
If you're really excited about these books and would like to get them autographed, consider traveling to The
Book Beat in Oak Park this Sunday. The authors will be available from 2:00 - 3:30 to autograph and discuss their books.
Cityscape Detroit is hosting a lecture on September 17, 2008 to talk about the beginnings of the group and share stories about various buildings and stories about Detroit.
The lecture will be held at the Skillman Branch of the Detroit Public Library. No RSVP is necessary and the event if free for members, $5 for everyone else.
Event Information
Highland Park's McGregor Library opened in 1926 and stood for nearly 80 years. The beaux-arts styled library quickly became a gathering place for the rapidly growing (thanks to Ford) community of Highland Park. It was closed in 2002 as the city continued to struggle financially.
In 2006, Highland Park received a $25 million state grant as part of the Cities of Promise initiative. They have already used a portion of the grant to reopen the Ernest T. Ford Field House and has been working to reopen the shuttered library.
The library is
listed on the State Register of Historic Places and the Michigan Historical Center is actively involved with this project.
Highland Parks plans to reopen the library in 2009.
The AIA Michigan website has finally updated their website to include information on the latest AIA Michigan award winners.
Earlier this year, the DEGC and a New York developer, The Northern Group, announced plan for the Cadillac Centre located in the vacant block adjacent to Campus Martius.
I recently ran across an old Detroit Free Press (October 27, 1991) article about unbuilt architecture projects in downtown Detroit. Written by John Gallagher (still writing about architecture) and illustrated by Dick Rochon (later known as Richard), who has produced many architectural renderings over the years. If you can find one, take a look at a hand drawn rendering of Detroit architecture the next time you see one. Chances are it's one if Rochon's.View image View image
Highland Park's McGregor Library opened in 1926 and stood for nearly 80 years. The beaux-arts styled library quickly became a gathering place for the rapidly growing (thanks to Ford) community of Highland Park. It was closed in 2002 as the city continued to struggle financially.
